About Ineng

The name Ineng is an acronym for the Independent Entrepreneurship Group. Based in Cape Town, South Africa we are a non-profit association created to promote public policies that enable entrepreneurship.

Vision

To help build a prosperous South Africa where people can easily start businesses and create wealth for themselves, their families and their communities.

Mission

It is our view that reducing poverty and unemployment in South Africa can be achieved by enabling the success of small businesses and entrepreneurs. Our main program Entrepreneurs in Public Policy seeks to provide a platform for entrepreneurs and their supporters to speak out on policy issues affecting their ability to do business.

We want to engage with entrepreneurs and policy makers to determine the most effective ways in which government and municipalities can enable small businesses to grow and thrive.

Ineng Values

Free enterprise and trade

Provided they do not cause harm or infringe on the rights of others, individuals should be able to run businesses and trade freely with customers.

Entrepreneurs should be able to operate freely and sell goods and services to customers, without restrictions placed on them by crony capitalists and corrupt government officials.

Free enterprise and competition between businesses create better goods and services for consumers.

Laws and regulations should not prevent new businesses from entering into sectors of the economy.

Security and Justice

Business owners should be able to operate freely, secure in the knowledge that their private property and businesses are protected by law enforcement.

The institutions of justice (Police and Courts) should maintain the rule of law and protect the property and assets of businesses. These institutions should never coerce or extort small businesses, nor threaten their ability to operate freely.

Law enforcement must protect the rights of entrepreneurs, employees, and the businesses they run.

Free enterprise and competition between businesses create better goods and services for consumers. Law enforcement must protect the rights of businesses that enter a new market, and must not allow companies dominant in that market to threaten or harm new competitors.

Government creating an enabling environment for businesses

Government should aim to create a free and enabling environment for businesses to operate in.

Private companies should be given the chance to compete with government services whenever possible.

Government should avoid having monopolies on any types of goods and services, as this leads to inferior quality goods and services for the consumer.

Government should not seek to provide goods and services to consumers outside of their mandated Social Safety net obligations, but should regulate and police a free market in which citizens have a choice of healthcare, education and transport.

Voucher systems should be explored as market-driven options for certain government services with a view to maximizing the choices available to every citizen.

To receive information on our public events as well as invitations to occasional conferences, kindly email info@ineng.co.za and request to join our mailing list. Alternatively please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

A Brief History

Ineng arose out of the need to find entrepreneurial solutions to the challenges. What began as a student initiative in 2008, titled The Enterprise Forum, has grown into a fully-fledged organization driven primarily by young professionals.

The Enterprise Forum showed documentary premiers, launched Students In Free Enterprise UCT, hosted lectures and provided free education resources for students and entrepreneurs outside university. The initiatives won several awards, including for micro-finance in Khayelitsha, under a project incubated by Students In Free Enterprise.

Like The Enterprise Forum worked out of the UCT GSB from 2008 to 2010, events at the new UCT Innovation Space were launched in 2014 with the fresh repurposed entity, Ineng – the Independent Entrepreneurship Group.